Snow

Winter has brought to the mountain a cozy 2 or so feet of snow. The Holly family, whom we were hosting for the holidays, did not know that their trip included 4 hours of shoveling snow. With the snow thrower down, Neal came to my aid with a shovel and a strong back and we made a nice day of it. It wasn't all work as we built a fun sled run down the hill and enjoyed a couple hours of sledding. I will post some pircures of the track and sledding fun following this post. As for the house, the contractors are here tearing the old siding off the house and wrapping with polyethlyne. The new siding will go up in the next few days and will provide much needed improvement in the R value of the walls.

Winter is Here

Winter has arrived early here in Orford. As Laura and I have found, the minor elevation gain that we experience here at the base of Mt. Cube creates for a very different weather as compared to Hanover, where we work. While we may have 3-4 inches of snow here, there may be only a minor dusting down the mountain. We are still doing work on the house. I have waterproofed the garage door, which after several bouts of minor flooding during heavy rains appears to be cured. I also painted the upperstairs landing. It is a yellow that is an aquired taste. As for heating, I am experimenting with anthracite coal as a supplement to wood. While it requires a bit more time and attention, it does provide a very cheap and intense heat. I am convert. I did have some hesitation at first provided my anxiety about the CO2, but from my research it burns more efficiently than wood with only a marginal increase in CO2. Last, please take a look at my recent pictures. Several dozen deer and fishercat tracks were found around the grounds. It has made me realize just how wild the area is.